The need for protective and functional footwear intended for specific applications is well-known. Just as basketball and football place different demands on the human foot and thus require different footwear, different forms of dance and athletics also require specialized footwear. For example, balletic dance requires specially designed toe shoes, jazz dance requires specially designed character shoes, and tap dance requires specially modified tap shoes. Until now, however, there has been no satisfactory footwear for use by modern dancers, despite the fact that modern dance places severe stresses on the human foot.
Unlike many more traditional forms of dance, modern dance requires rapid, abrupt, and complex shifts in body position, center of gravity, directional momentum, and weight distribution. Included in these movements are forceful turns, spins, and other such movements that can cause friction burns, tearing, slivers, blisters, and other foot problems. In addition, modern dancers—like other dancers—risk serious injury if their foot should slip on the dance floor or if they should turn their ankle. However, given the aesthetic requirements of their art, most modern dancers currently opt to dance barefoot and tolerate the damage done to their feet.
Earlier, unsuccessful attempts at providing such footwear range from the use of thongs that were wrapped around the foot to dancers cutting up nylon stockings and tying them to their feet before each performance. The only footwear currently available for use in modern dance comprises a “sole” that is secured to the foot by means of an ankle strap and toe loops. However, because this sole is not securely bound to the sole of the foot, severe tearing of the skin is common, particularly between the great and index toes. For that reason, most modern dancers do not use this apparatus. A major drawback of all the above approaches is that such footwear does not provide all of the protective and safety benefits desired, nor are they durable and minimally disruptive to a dancer's performance.
The ideal modern dance footwear would both protect the feet from friction burns, tearing, slivers, blisters, and other foot problems and also provide beneficial traction, optional ankle support, and other safety benefits. In addition to providing these advantages, the ideal modern dance footwear should be an unobtrusive article that either gives the appearance of a naked foot or that coordinates with a dance costume. It should be durable, reusable, and, ideally, washable, yet not impede a dancer's performance.
In additional contemplated embodiments, the footwear article of the present invention may be modified for use in the martial arts, where training involves many of the same movements as modern dance and where difficult surfaces, such as wooden, ceramic, or synthetic gymnasium floors, must be used. The footwear of the present invention may also be adapted for use in aquatic and marine environments, particularly for uses that require surefooted performance and foot protection, such as sailing, surfing, and sailboarding, without the disadvantages of shoes and other footwear.
The present invention provides an elegant solution to all of these problems.